Re: [webmin-l] Issue with backing up *via ssh* from a Linux system to a NetBSD system using the "Filesystem Backup" module

[Jamie C. <jca...@we...>]

On 15/Oct/2022 11:58 Christopher Pinon <cj...@ex...> wrote ..
> Le 2022-10-15 18:49, Jamie Cameron a écrit :
> > On 15/Oct/2022 06:30 Christopher Pinon <cj...@ex...> wrote ..
> >> Hi,
> >> 
> >> I've been using Webmin for a few years and am currently using v. 2.000 
> >> .
> >> 
> >> I've noticed a significant issue with backing up *via ssh* from a 
> >> Linux
> >> system to a NetBSD system using the "Filesystem Backup" module. In 
> >> fact,
> >> this is an issue that I've always experienced with Webmin, but I 
> >> thought
> >> that I would finally ask about it. :-)
> >> 
> >> First of all, backing up *via ftp* from Linux to NetBSD works fine
> >> (whether by dump or by tar), and this is what I've been doing.
> >> 
> >> However, backing up *via ssh* from Linux to NetBSD doesn't work for 
> >> some
> >> reason. If I start a backup from Linux to NetBSD, the process begins 
> >> and
> >> takes a long time and finally gives up (or after a long time, I give 
> >> up
> >> and terminate the process). There's never ever any trace of the dump 
> >> or
> >> tar file on the NetBSD system.
> >> 
> >> (As a sanity check, backing up via ssh from Linux to Linux *does* work
> >> for me.)
> >> 
> >> Naturally, ssh/sftp work fine on the NetBSD system -- after all, it's
> >> (standard) OpenSSH.
> >> 
> >> Webmin doesn't display any error message, as far as I can tell: the
> >> backup process simply doesn't succeed after a long while. None of the
> >> files miniserv.error , miniserv.log , or webmin.log seems to indicate
> >> that anything went wrong, as far as I can tell.
> >> 
> >> I wanted to ask: is this a known issue? Where could I look for the
> >> source of the error?
> >> 
> >> I'd be grateful for any advice.
> > 
> > Hi Christopher,
> > 
> > Are you using a password to authentication via SSH to the remote 
> > system,
> > or a private key? Also, can you SSH with the same credentials from the
> > command line on your Webmin system?
> > 
> >  - Jamie
> 
> Hi Jamie,
> 
> I'm using a password to authenticate via ssh on the remote (NetBSD) 
> system. (All of my backup tests via ssh with Webmin from Linux to NetBSD 
> and from Linux to Linux have used a password to authenticate.)
> 
> On the command line of the Linux system (where Webmin is installed), I 
> can use ssh/sftp/scp to reach my account on the remote NetBSD system. In 
> fact, I've just tried all three of these commands and they work!
> 
> Even so, any attempt to use the "Filesystem Backup" module of Webmin on 
> the Linux system to back up via ssh a (small) directory to the NetBSD 
> system fails. Basically, the process takes many-many minutes -- it seems 
> to hang -- before it finally gives up (or I kill it), with absolutely no 
> result.
> 
> In contrast, choosing to use ftp in the module works fine.
> 
> I've experienced this issue since I began to use Webmin, which was 
> around four years ago.

Hi Christopher,

What if you backup from your Linux system to a different Linux system,
rather than NetBSD? That would be a useful test to figure out if the 
issue is coming from the client or server side..

 - Jamie